Clothes drier



Dec. 3, 1935. w E C FIRLE 2,022,712

CLOTHES DRIER Filed Aug. l, 1934.

INVENTOR Em i Z Fir Za.

BY-/ E ;z gr ATTORNEY H which possesses a central guide bore 12.

Patented Decl 3, 1935 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CLOTHES DRIER.

Emil C. Firle, New York, N. Y.

Application August 1, 1934, Serial No. 737,878

4 Claims. (Cl. 2114-165) This invention relates to clothes driers in general and particularly tol portable or suspendable devices of this kind.

One of the principal objects of this invention is to provide an efcient device at the least possible expenditure, which is simple in construction and collapsible and so designed as to be easily assemblable by unskilled hands.

Another object of this invention is to provide a portable stand or support in a simple, least expensive way, which will be capable of permitting the adjustment of its legs at any desired position relative toeach other, without allowing these legs to spread or open beyond a certain safe limit.

Another object of this invention is to so construct the stand as to be capable of operatively accommodating Various constructions of clothes supporting means.

Another` object of this invention is to provide in connection with such clothes supporting means, a Suspension device whereby the latter may be suspended from the ceiling or a limb of a tree, independently of the stand.

The foregoing and still further objects will become more clearly evident from the following description, in conjunction with the accompanying drawing, showing a few of the now preferred forms of my invention, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective assembly of the stand and one of the types of clothes supports,

Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the clothes support intended to be suspended, with the stand omitted,

Fig. 3 is a partial detailed view showing the arrangement of an individual clothes supporting bar and a central member to which it is attached,

Fig. 3A illustrates the attaching end of a clothes supporting bar,

Fig. 4 is an enlarged detailed view of the rest member of my stand, showing the attachment of the stand legs,

Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional View through the re member of the stand, and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of another type of clothes support as it appears operatively secured in the stand.

Referring now specifically to the figures, numeral I denotes the rest member of my stand, provided with a centrally located extension or hub The disc-like member It is either forcibly joined with a separately turned hub, or may be made in one piece with a hub extension.

Secured to member Ill from below are eye-screws |3, arranged in pairs, and between each pair is inserted the upper ends of legs M. ends are rounded oif and are provided with a through hole. A short dowel pin, indicated at 15, is passed first through one of the eye-screws, then through the hole provided in leg 14, and then out 5 through the other eye-screw, whereby a Very effective hinge connection is established. Obviously pin |5 is held tightly in the hole of the leg so as to preclude disengagement of the latter from the eye-screw. somewhat beyond the eye-screw. The legs of the stand may be forrned either from one continuous piece, or may be rendered adjustable as indicated at |6 of Figure 1. Any suitable type of adjustable construction may be employed. 15`

Secured to the interior faces of legs It are eyescrews l'l, clearly seen in Figure 1, through which is passed a flexible, endless connector IB, adapted to freely engage the eye-sorews. The length of the fiexible member is determined to enable any adjustment of the legs, but to prevent them from spreading to an eXcess. In Figure 1, I have shown a chain. It is understood however that any other suitable fiexible material may be employed, such as cord, cable or the like.

Rest member IO is designed to accommodate in the central hub hole |2 the central extension of a clothes support. One of these supports is shown in Figures 1 and 2 and consists of a substantially disc-like member IS which is provided at its periphery with a plurality of radially arranged holes or sockets, adapted to receive the ends of round clothes supporting bars. I prefer to provide at least two, but no more than four relatively heavier main bars, indicated at 2B, and arranged substantially symmetrically about the Vertical center axis of the device. Between main bars 20 I arrange a number of lighter auxiliary bars 2|. Obviously the sockets for the main bars are somewhat larger than the sockets for the auxiliary bars. The attaching ends of the bars are preferably slotted, as indicated at 22 in Figure 3A, so as to exert a pressure against the wall of the sockets and frictionally engage the latter, thus preventing the bars from voluntarily leaving their respective sockets.

Bars 20 are preferably secured permanently to central member |9 by means of a flexible connection 25, clearly seen in Figure 3. This connection may consist of either a chain or an S-hook, engaging an eye-screw 24 secured in bars 20 and a corresponding eye-screw 25 secured in the body of central member 19. in addition I prefer to provide about in the middle of bars 20 eye-screws 26, serving for suspending the clothes support These upper u I preferably permit the pin to extend 10 in the manner indicated in Figure 2, by either four connecting bars 21, secured to a ring 28, or by cords or chains, taking the place of connecting bars 21. Central member l9 to which the clothes suspending bars 20 and 2| are removably attached, is provided at its lower face with a central extension 29, adapted to register with bore |2 of hub of the rest member IO, when it is decided to use the stand as support for the drer. Obviously extension 29 permits the clothes support to freely rotate in hub l l, thus permitting the use of one bar after the other for hanging thereupon Various pieces of material to be dried.

The construction shown in Figure 6 illustrates another type of clothes support consisting of an upper central member 30 from which extends downwards a relatively long central extension 3 I, which latter is operably associated with the hole provided in rest member IB. Central member 30 is grooved at its periphery and in that groove is secured a wire 32 which passes through the perforated ends of clothes supporting bars 33, and holds all of the bars together. These bars operate in suitable slots provided in the central member. Below the central member is a sliding collar 34, operatively engaging extension 3|, which resembles the construction of central member 30 in that it is also provided with radial slots, for receiving bracing bars 35, which are hingedly held together by a wire 33, disposed in a suitable groove. The other ends of bars 35 are pivotally attached at 31 to clothes'supporting bars 33. The entire construction of the clothes support is very similar to that of an umbrella.

Secured to sliding collar 34 are two pins 38 and 39 adapted to engage suitable holes provided in extension 3|. 'Pin 38 limits the downward movement of sliding collar 34, while pin 39 prevents extension 3| from sliding in hub II.

It is clearly evident from the drawingV that either construction of the clothes supporting devices may be secured to the stand, or may be suspended from above, if provided with suitable attaching means, such as shown in Figure 2. It is essential that the clothes supporting device is rotatable, so as to permit the use of one bar after the other without requiring the person hanging clothes thereon to change position. The construction shown in Figure 6 obviously is somewhat more complicated than that of Figure 2. The latter construction is very simple and extremely inexpensive and may be handled readily by anyone unfamiliar with mechanical devices. The advantage of both suspending devices resides in the fact that they may be readily collapsed, taken apart and easily rigged up again, when required.

While I have shown specific forms of my construction, it is self evident that changes and improvements may be made therein, and I therefore reserve for myself the right to Vmake such changes and improvements without departing from the broad scope of my invention, as set forth in the annexed claims.

I claim: i

1. In a clothes drer, the combination with an adjustable and collapsibe stand having a rest member provided withV a central aperture, of clothes supporting means consisting of a central member having a fixed central extension and a plurality of arms radially extending from, Vand removably associated with said central member, the latter adapted to movably rest upon said rest membeizrsaid extension being in engagement with the aperture of said rest member for rendering said clothes supporting means rotatable. 2. The combination with a clothes drer stand, consisting of a rest member provided with a central aperture and a guide hub, forming an extension of said apertured rest member, the latter having a plurality of hingedly and twistably mounted legs provided with an endless, flexible element, connecting and facilitating the positioning and preventing the spreading of said legs; of clothes supporting means, consisting of a central member rotatably mounted in and adapted to respose upon said rest member and provided with a plurality of radially disposed sockets, a plurality of arms engagng said sockets, their socket f engaging ends being slotted for the purpose of exerting tension against the socket walls, some of the arms being fixedly secured to said central member, and at least two of the' secured arms provided with means for facilitating their suspension, While they are in engagement with their respective sockets. 3. In a clothes drer, the combination with a collapsible stand comprising a rest member, having a hub and a central guide bore, a plurality of eye screws secured in pairs to the lower face of' the rest member, a plurality of longitudinally adjustable legs hingedly associated With said eye screws, each pair of eye screws permitting the individual adjustment of the legs relative to the center axis of said rest member, and an endless, w lexible element fioatingly and adjustably connected with said legs and capable of being positioned independently of the positions taken by said legs; of clothes supporting means operatively associated with said stand and comprising a disc member, adapted to repose upon said rest mem- 44 03 ber, and having a fixed central extension adapted to be journaled in the guide bore of said rest member, the latter provided withV a plurality of radially disposed sockets, a plurality of arms in removable engagement with and extending from 45 said sockets, the ends of the arms in engagement with the sockets provided with slots, eye screws and hooks disengageably Vconnecting said arms With said disc member, some of the arms being fixedly secured to said central member, and at least two of the fixed arms being provided with suspension means.

4. In a clothes drer, clothes supporting means comprising a disc member provided with a central downward extension, said disc member adapted to operatively engage, and rest upon a similar, but perforated member of a stand or the like, said disc member having a plurality of radially disposed sockets, a plurality of arms removably engaging said sockets, the endof the arms in engagement with the sockets provided with slots, eye screws and hooks disengageably connecting said arms with said disc member, some of the arms being fixedly securedV in said disc member, and at least two of the fixed arms being provided with means for suspending said clothes drer, when its disc member does not rest upon a similar member of astand. v i i EMIL C. FIRLE. 

